Our Team

ElsaMarie D’silva is the Founder and leads the team. She is an experienced aviation professional who made a career switch in 2013 to the social sector in order to improve the lives of women, youth and senior citizens through awareness, interaction and education. Safecity is the first of her social projects. She is also a trained counsellor in both the directive and non directive methods of counselling. She is a Yale World Fellow, an Aspen New Voices Fellow, a Vital Voices Lead Fellow, a mentee at the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women in Business and an alumna of the Stanford CDDRL, Swedish Institute. She won the Vital Voices Global Leadership award in 2017, Female Entrepreneur Award by European Angel Investor Dusan Stojanovic in July 2015. ElsaMarie co-founded Safecity with Saloni Malhotra and Surya Velamuri.
Elsa's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

A writer, film director, a gender activist and a yoga acharya, Supreet has transitioned from 15 years of corporate experience to being an award-winning filmmaker & running an NGO. A partner at Red Dot Foundation, Safecity, she overlooks the functioning of the organization and specifically handles the operations, marketing as well as creating campaigns to engage women and men in solutions and designing partnerships globally. She is a certified personal counsellor and conducts workshops creating awareness about sexual violence with children, communities and corporates. A Vital Voices VV Lead fellow, she was recently awarded as the Web wonder woman by the Ministry of Women (GOI), Woman of substance award by FICCI Flo and the Social Innovator Leadership award by Biz Divas. She has recently published her collection of poetry and is currently working on her first feature film.

Tania is the Chief Operating Officer. She is a skilled professional, adept at working operationally and strategically to deliver business goals through leadership and motivation. She has 18 years of varied experience, most of which has been with Human Resources, in all aspects of people management along with excellent customer service skills. Her forte lies in building people capability and managing teams. In her last assignment, she headed a team of 35 staff to support the Human Resource, Recruitment and training requirement from on boarding to exit. Her past experience has been with the Service and Hospitality Industry. She looks forward to making a difference in the lives of women and children and making public spaces safer and equally accessible to all.

Ashwini Syed is the Director of Events and has been conducting workshops for adults, youth and children with Safecity in Maharashtra. Prior to this, she worked with Jet Airways for 15 years where she trained Pilots and Cabin crew on Safety and Emergency Procedures, Dangerous Goods Regulations, Human Factors and Situational Awareness. She also trained ground personnel on Ramp and AirSide safety. She is a mother of 2 young children and is passionate about gender equality and sensitivity.
Ashwini's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Nicole Joseph-Chin is a Caribbean based Social Entrepreneur, educator and innovator, using Breast Health as a catalyst to social change, impact and sustainability. Social Enterprise - Ms. Brafit, was founded in 2002 and now provides a diverse range of solutions that span education, consulting and retail products. Nicole firmly attests to how Women's Health, Adolescent Health and Breast Health all contribute to healthy cities, societies and economies. Nicole finds, creates and provides solutions to enhance esteem, build confidence and empower women, girls and families, ensuring that healthy breasts are the catalysts to a healthy world, sustainable food source for the newborn and healthier populations.
Nicole's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Marissa Borges is a Psychology graduate from Mumbai University and brings with her over 35 years of experience from the
Aviation Industry. She started her career in 1980, with Saudi Arabian Airlines as a Flight Attendant, moving up the ranks to an In-flight Supervisor; then into Training Flight Attendants with Jet Airways from 1993-2000; Qatar Airways from 2000-2018. She is a certified EQ (Emotional Quotient) Practitioner & a CQ (Cultural Quotient) qualified Trainer. Her trainings included Cabin Crew Service Processes, Leadership, Interpersonal Communication skills, Business writing, Conflict Resolution, Crisis Management, Coaching Counselling, EQ & CQ courses. She has also completed a Counselling Certificate course at the ‘Heart to Heart’ Counselling Centre in Mumbai. Marissa’s aim is to make the globe a safer harmonious place to live in and to carry out God’s work, by using God’s love which is a free gift that is unsolicited unconditional.
Marissa's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Gillian is an Economics and Sociology graduate, with a Masters in Marketing. She transitioned from a career in commercial airlines to Social Development and is the Director of Global Partnerships and Principal Representative to the United Nations for the Red Dot Foundation. She is currently pursuing dual certification in Sustainable Development and Mindfulness. In addition to being a member of the NGOCSocD, she is also a member of the NGO Committee on FfD as well as the NGOMG. She is an amateur gardener and a trained classical Indian (Bharatnatyam) dancer. Gillian also volunteers at her local church as a Eucharist minister and is PGC(Protecting Gods Children) compliant.
Gillian's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Soumya Mishra is an interdisciplinary feminist researcher and writer. Her areas of interest include postcolonial theory, culture and criticism, gender and sexuality studies, mental health, and pop culture. She has a Master of English Studies from the University of Sydney. At leisure, she juggles between her two loves - books and music.
Soumya's pronouns are she/they.

Jyoti Goyal has a Master of Social Work degree and is currently pursuing LLB. She has over 6 years of experience in the social sector. She is enthusiastic about working on gender equality, and social work is her passion. Jyoti likes to interact with people, work with them and help them.
She works with communities, partner NGOs, and volunteers to spread awareness about women and child safety and perseveres to break the silence around taboo topics.
Jyoti's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Sneha Vasa is a Commerce graduate from Mumbai University, and currently, she is pursing Chartered Accountancy. She enjoys reading and doing yoga.
Sneha's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

A homemaker, she has been involved in spearheading local cultural events in her community for the last 20 years and working towards the upliftment of underprivileged children. She loves to travel exploring local cuisine and is passionate about music and theatre. With her strong belief in women empowerment and gender equality, she hopes to bring about change in any small way she can contribute.

Rima has over 10 years of experience with the Aviation Industry working for companies like Singapore Airlines, Emirates, etc. Prior to that she worked in Operations and Administration departments for companies like Sequoia Capital and Regus. She takes immense pride in being a part of a mission driven organization like Red Dot Foundation and is committed to making a change for the better for women and children. Rima's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Vaibhavi, a lawyer specialises in the studies of Gender, Law and Social Justice in India. She has experience of teaching children from government schools and aiding legal clinics for women and children in Pune. As a Program and Outreach Manager at Red Dot Foundation, she has undertaken 25+ training sessions with students, teachers, non-profit organizations and corporates on laws of sexual offences in physical as well as the digital world and redressal mechanisms under the Indian legal framework. She was a panelist at the ECOSOC Youth Forum Thematic Session on SDG 5, 2022 where she represented the RDF and the work we have done during the pandemic for the marginalized communities. Vaibhavi is also a musician who writes and produces her original songs. Her vision is to be able to facilitate an inclusive safe space for all, where people can be who they want to be and do what they wish to do. Vaibhavi's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.

Sonali comes from an aviation background, having spent 15 years in marketing and sales in the aviation industry. She is passionate about women's rights and enjoys working with youth. She feels very strongly about equity of women and safety of women and children. She feels extremely fortunate to be associated with Red Dot Foundation and to be able to make a difference, however small, in people's lives.

Pragati Vaishya has Masters of Social Work and has more than 5 years of experience in the field of social sector. Social work is her passion and she wants to contribute to society. Pragati is passionate about working on women empowerment and child development. She likes to interact with adolescents, and women and help people in need. She works with ICDS workers, various partner NGOs, youth groups and adolescent girls. Pragati's preferred pronounces are she/her/hers.